—namely the Kharijites and the advocates of the “intermediate position”—and those who equate the faith of the openly sinful with the faith of the prophets and the foremost truthful ones, such as the Murjiʾah and the Jahmiyyah.

In the chapter of threat, reward, and punishment, they steer a middle course between those who deny that our Prophet will intercede on behalf of the perpetrators of grave sins and the Murjiʾah who maintain that every divine threat must unfailingly take effect.

In the chapter of leadership and of enjoining right and forbidding wrong, they take their stand between those who support the rulers in sin and oppression, complacently leaning toward the wrongdoers, and those who refuse to cooperate with anyone in righteousness and piety—not in jihad, nor Friday prayer, nor the festivals—unless the leader is infallible, and thus decline to participate in what Allah and His Messenger have commanded except under an obedience that simply does not exist.

The first party plunges into the prohibited, while the second abandons the obligations of the religion and the rites of Islam. Their extremists relinquish these duties merely to avoid agreeing with someone they presume to be unjust, though that person might in reality be utterly sound in knowledge and justice.